Awnings as Advertising Space

Extreme Scale 3D-Typography

In Ho Chi Minh City, the prolific use of awnings as advertising surfaces is a defining feature of the urban landscape. Smaller shops and restaurants, in particular, make use of these large-format displays to attract attention, often prominently presenting the house number in oversized numerals.

These awnings also reflect a pronounced affinity for three-dimensional lettering. Most inscriptions employ shadows, outlines, gradients, or other 3D effects—more often than not, in combination. Rarely absent: the name of the awning manufacturer.

As a tonal language, Vietnamese employs a wide range of letters with diacritical marks to distinguish between different tones. The writing system includes several modified characters: some carry additional diacritics—such as ă, â, ê, and ô—while others incorporate them as integral parts of the letterform, as in the case of đ.

These are further complemented by tonal marks, including the acute, breve, tilde, and underdot, which are used to denote six distinct tones. A comprehensive overview of the typographic challenges of the Vietnamese language can be found at vietnamesetypography.com.

In combination with the prevalent three-dimensional effects, this rich system of diacritics lends the lettering a particularly distinctive visual character.